Gospel (Mt 12,1-8) - At that time, on the Sabbath, Jesus passed through wheat fields and his disciples became hungry and began to pick ears of corn and eat them. Seeing this, the Pharisees said to him: "Behold, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath." But he answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the offering, which neither he nor his companions were allowed to eat, but only the priests. Or have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath and yet are guiltless? Now I tell you that here is one greater than the temple. If you had understood what it means: “I want mercy and not sacrifices”, you would not have condemned innocent people. Because the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

They rebuke Jesus because he lets his disciples take a few ears of wheat along the way on the Sabbath. The master responds with two examples taken from Scripture and reiterates, with the words of Hosea, the breadth of God's heart: "I want mercy and not sacrifices" (Hos 6.6). The Lord does not desire cold and external observance of the rules, but the heart of the believer. In truth, this dimension has always been present in biblical revelation. In some Jewish commentaries, for example, we read: "The Sabbath was given to you, and not you to the Sabbath." And some commentators explain that the rabbis knew that exaggerated religiosity could endanger the fulfillment of the essence of the law: «Nothing is more important, according to the Torah, than saving human life... Even when there is only the slightest probability that a life is at stake, every prohibition of the law can be ignored." Jesus exalts the spirit of life that led to placing God and man at the center of life. In short, he gives the authentic interpretation. The Sabbath shows the loving presence of God in human affairs. The Lord Jesus is the loving face of God. This is why he repeats that he wants mercy, not sacrifice. Why do we, like the Pharisees, often prefer sacrifices to mercy? Because we believe we are okay, while mercy is always indebted to others. Jesus does not violate the law, but brings it to completion with love. God does not give a regulation, but a word of love to make men's lives full. If we empty the Law of this, reducing it to sacrifices, it becomes only a prescription that leads to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. While God is interested in the heart, in mercy.